Army scraps 87,000 swadeshi shells meant for T-72 tanks

An official spokesman confirmed that the Army had rejected the shells. ‘‘The rounds did have some defect and we are not prepared to accept them. These were rounds for the T-72’s 125 mm smooth bore guns,’’ the spokesman said.

Problems began a year ago when the Army rejected a consignment of Russian-made armour-piercing fin-stabilised sabots. The Army detected a large residue and the cartridge was not burning completely. After consultations with the original manufacturers, the Army struck a deal to manufacture them in India following a transfer of technology.

It is learnt that the ordnance factories manufactured 87,000 shells and shipped them to the Army. However, during the trials Army officials were shocked to see that the rounds were very difficult to target.

While Russian rounds could hit a 6 ft target at a distance of over 1 km, the Indian rounds had difficulty in hitting even a 20 ft target over the same distance. This created several problems when the Army was mobilised during the 11-month-long deployment on the Pakistan border during Operation Parakram.

According to South Block sources the Army was forced to make emergency purchases of 20,000 rounds from Israel. While the Army managed to tide over the crisis thus, its armoured regiments have a fresh crisis on their hands.